know someone (have sexual relations)

The Hebrew and Greek that is translated by some English translations with the euphemism “to know someone” and by others as “be intimate with someone” or “have sexual relations with someone” is translated in Cherokee as “becoming wise” or “becoming experienced.” (source: Bender / Belt 2025, p. 30)

In Tongan, it is translated as fe’iloaki which “is generally reserved for sexual intimacy bearing the traditional cultural notion of “meeting to make a home.” Source: Ma’afu Palu in The Bible Translator 2022, p. 240ff.)

swear / vow

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The Hebrew, Ge’ez, and Greek that is translated as “swear (an oath)” or “vow” in English is otherwise translated as:

  • “God sees me, I tell the truth to you” (Tzeltal)
  • “loading yourself down” (Huichol)
  • “speak-stay” (implying permanence of the utterance) (Sayula Popoluca)
  • “say what could not be taken away” (San Blas Kuna)
  • “because of the tight (i.e. ‘binding’) word said to a face” (Guerrero Amuzgo)
  • “strong promise” (North Alaskan Inupiatun) (source for all above: Bratcher / Nida)
  • “eat an oath” (Nyamwezi) (source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext)
  • “drink an oath” (Jju) (source: McKinney 2018, p. 31).
  • “cut taboos” (Mairasi (source: Enggavoter 2004)
  • Cherokee: “putting one’s hand up to someone” (source: Bender / Belt 2025, p. 16)

In Bauzi “swear” can be translated in various ways. In Hebrews 6:13, for instance, it is translated with “bones break apart and decisively speak.” (“No bones are literally broken but by saying ‘break bones’ it is like people swear by someone else in this case it is in relation to a rotting corpse’ bones falling apart. If you ‘break bones’ so to speak when you make an utterance, it is a true utterance.”) In other passages, such as in Matthew 26:72, it’s translated with an expression that implies taking ashes (“if a person wants everyone to know that he is telling the truth about a matter, he reaches down into the fireplace, scoops up some ashes and throws them while saying ‘I was not the one who did that.'”). So in Matthew 26:72 the Bauzi text is: “. . . Peter took ashes and defended himself saying, ‘I don’t know that Nazareth person.'” (Source: David Briley)

See also swear (promise) and Let your word be ‘Yes, Yes’, or ‘No, No’.

complete verse (Judges 11:39)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Judges 11:39:

  • Kupsabiny: “And when two months had ended, the girl returned home. Then, her father did to the girl as he had sworn to God. So, it became a custom in Israel” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “After the two months were over, she returned to her father’s place and Jephthah did as he had promised. She had never slept with any man.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “After two months, she returned to her father. And Jefta fulfilled what he swore to the LORD, and his child died a virgin. This was the beginning of the custom of Israel” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “After two months, she returned to her father Jephthah, and he did to her what he had vowed. So his daughter never was married.
    Because of that, the Israelis now have a custom.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on Judges 11:39

And at the end of two months …: Jephthah’s daughter returned from wandering and weeping in the hills after two months just as she had promised (see verse 11.37). And renders the Hebrew expression wayehi (literally “And it was”). Several versions omit this expression (New Revised Standard Version, Good News Translation), but some retain it. It slows down the narrative and shows a new episode is beginning. Thus King James Version says “And it came to pass.” At the end of two months is literally “from the end of two months.” We might say “So it happened after two months had passed that….”

She returned to her father: Returned renders the key Hebrew verb shuv (see verse 2.19). Part of the beauty of this book is the way the author uses the same verbs over and over, with a wide variety of meanings. The phrase to her father underlines the girl’s obedience. There seems to be no hint here of ill feeling, anger, or rebellion on her part.

Who did with her according to his vow which he had made: This clause is independent and quite emphatic in Hebrew, literally “and he did to her his vow that he had vowed.” The Hebrew verb meaning “do” comes to the forefront once again (see verse 11.36-37). The word vow is certainly in focus here, and closes the inclusio begun in verse 11.30. In many languages it will be hard to keep the emphasis here, but possible models are “He fulfilled the vow he had made” and “He did exactly as he had promised.” The style here is subdued, with no reference to ritual killing and sacrifice. However, the use of the verb did seems to imply that he literally sacrificed his own daughter.

She had never known a man is literally “And she, she did not know a man,” which means she never had sexual relations. Throughout the Old Testament the Hebrew verb here is a euphemism for sexual relations, within or outside marriage (see, for example, Gen 4.17, 25). The placement and structure of this clause in Hebrew convey a sad note. The hope of parents is to see their children grown and married. Good News Translation says “and she died still a virgin” (similarly New Living Translation, Revised English Bible), but this model says more than the text. In English Contemporary English Version is better with “and she never got married,” a euphemistic but natural way to speak of her virginity.

And it became a custom in Israel: This clause introduces the tradition described in the next verse. Good News Translation puts a paragraph break here to show that it links directly with what follows, but this seems unnecessary. Custom renders a Hebrew noun that can refer to a regular practice or a law. However, there is no other reference to this custom in the Bible.

Quoted with permission from Zogbo, Lynell and Ogden, Graham S. A Handbook on Judges. (UBS Helps for Translators). Miami: UBS, 2019. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

SIL Translator’s Notes on Judges 11:39

11:39a After two months, she returned to her father,

After the two months she went back to her father.
-or-
At the end of two months she returned to her father

11:39b and he did to her as he had vowed.

He did to her what he had promised,
-or-
and Jephthah did what he had promised.

11:39c And she had never had relations with a man.

and she never got married.
-or-
His daughter never had sexual relations with anyone.

11:39d So it has become a custom in Israel

So this became a custom in Israel.
-or-
This was the origin of the practice in Israel

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